Quaid Games to be held before South Asian Games

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) plans to host the Quaid-i-Azam Games ahead of the 14th South Asian Games, likely to be held in the first half of 2025.

The government has approved Rs 697 million to host the Quaid Games during the coming winters, most probably in December. “Quaid Games that were an annual feature years back will be revised with the new edition of Games to be held in the coming season. These Games will probably be held a few months ahead of the South Asian Games to be hosted by Pakistan,” an official confirmed to The News.

The National Games have already been allotted to Sindh Olympics Association and are expected to be organised any time later this year. The Quaid-I-Azam Games will be the second national sports event to be held in the coming season.

The Games are a sole venture of the federal government. Earlier, it was planned that instead of organising the Quaid Games, the PSB should go ahead to organise National Games. Since the National Games come directly under the umbrella of the National Olympic Committee and are already allotted to Sindh, the PSB had to be content with organisation of Quaid Games.

Meanwhile, a mega scheme waiting for approval from the authorities is construction of 250 mini sports complexes all over the country. It is unlikely that the scheme will be cleared during this financial year. The government is also considering converting the mega schemes into mini academies.

A handsome amount has also been proposed for the 15 ongoing schemes with some near to completion. These include a long-delayed venture -- the establishment of a bio-mechanical lab within the Sports Complex Islamabad. The project is expected to get underway this year with an initial cost of Rs 120 million. A total amount of Rs 169 million is expected to be spent on the project. The establishment of the lab has been in the pipeline for almost seven years now.

Synthetic hockey turf replacement which is in progress in different cities will cost another Rs 250 million during the coming year. Another Rs 50 million for the coming financial year is proposed for the construction of a swimming pool at the National Coaching Centre in Karachi.

Another amount of Rs 96 million has been proposed for the provision of electronic scoreboards at Lahore and Islamabad centres. The total cost of these scoreboards is around Rs 1769.770 million.